Strawberry Chocolate Chip Scones- Gluten-Free Recipe

Today was a good day. A strawberry and chocolate laced crusty on the outside tender on the inside kind of day. That's right. I got sconed. And the best part (aside from the fresh organic berry goodness, that is)? These golden biscuity morsels are vegan. That's right. No eggs. No milk. No butter (sorry, moo-cow fans).

On a whim yesterday (I am often prone to whims Dear Reader, especially after a sun dappled picnic on the Santa Fe plaza, perched on a bench beneath a flowering cherry tree across from a red robed Buddhist monk eating Chinese take-out. We devoured pesto slathered smoked turkey rolled in brown rice tortillas and I didn't drip a single green drop of cilantro infused olive oil on my ironed boot cut jeans) I picked up a Gluten-Free Pantry Muffin and Scone Mix at Whole Foods (long time readers know I miss my old favorite Pamela's Ultimate Baking Mix, and I've yet to find an all-purpose replacement mix that's half as good).

I was in such an expansive mood post my double espresso at the nearby Starbucks that I thought I might try baking something fun and slightly indulgent for the weekend. The organic strawberries smelled beyond heavenly in their ripe and ruby lusciousness. Yes, I smell all my fruit and veggies before I buy. Don't you? The woman with the amber handled cane you see standing in the Whole Foods produce aisle sniffing tomatoes and berries and anything else she can get her one free hand on, Darling?

That would be me.

But I know what you really want to know is how I conjured such utter scone cuteness from troublesome gluten-free dough. Gluten-free dough is notoriously sticky and the baking mix directions suggested scooping the dough and making free-form drop shapes. Easy peasy? Yes. But I wanted more of a wedge shaped scone. Something pretty, suitable for tea time.

So using moist hands, I formed the dough into a rounded soda bread style shape- not unlike my Gypsy Soda Bread, in fact. I used a big sharp knife to score and cut the dough into eight triangles. Then I moved them- with a triangle shaped spatula- to my Exopat lined cookie sheet. I soothed and patted and baked them into the contented little wedges you see pictured.

Next time I might try rolling the dough out a little bit flatter and using cookie cutters to make a more biscuit-like shape. Just for fun.

Gluten-free strawberry scone love.

Gluten-Free Strawberry Chocolate Chip Scones

I love using Spectrum Organic Shortening in my vegan baking, but it doesn't add any of that lovely buttery flavor that the real churned moo-cow cream adds. So I add a little extra vanilla to my recipes to make up for it. It's not exactly butter flavor, but the enhanced vanilla does give vegan doughs and batters a flavor boost.

Empty the mix into a mixing bowl and drop the tablespoons of shortening into the mix. Use a fork or a pastry cutter to cut in the shortening; the mixture is supposed to look like coarse crumbs. Mine didn't, exactly. But.

Add the lemon juice to the non-dairy milk and stir. Pour into the mixing bowl.

Add the mixed egg replacer.

Stir to combine. The dough is akin to biscuit batter. At this point, if you need a little more liquid (I did) add 1 tablespoon of hemp milk at a time until the dough is moist and holds together. It should appear a bit sticky.

Add in the strawberries and chocolate chips. Mix to distribute.

On a rice floured board, form the dough into a round cake pan size loaf- like a soda bread. Using a large sharp knife, score the dough into eight wedges. Then cut the dough, and using a thin spatula, remove each piece to a parchment lined cookie sheet or Exopat. Reshape the wedges if you need to- I used a butter knife to do this.

At this point I added some extra strawberry pieces and a few more chocolate chips to the top of each wedge.

Bake in the center of a preheated oven. Check at 15 minutes for doneness- but mine took quite a bit longer than that. Closer to 30 minutes. Remember, I'm at high altitude. The scones should like slightly golden brown, and you should be able to life one up and sneek a peek at the bottom without it falling apart. It should be firm and golden brown.

Cool the scones on a wire rack. Try some warm- fabulous! Wrap and freeze others for a lickity split yummy breakfast.

Makes 8 scones.

Recipe Source: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

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